King Arthur I of Lovia
|religion=Atheist |language=Dutch, English |home= Noble City |spouse=Queen Anne |placebirth= Ghent |datebirth=March 12, 1849 |datedeath=February 2, 1887 |placedeath= Noble City |function=Ruling Monarch, Founding Father |monarch=yes |monarch-reign=1876-1887 |monarch-coronation= |monarch-predecessor= |monarch-successor=King Arthur II of Lovia }} King Arthur I of Lovia, born Arthur Francis Nobel and later changed his name to Arthur Francis Noble (Ghent, March 12, 1849 - Noble City, February 2, 1887), was a Belgian-American explorer who began the first settlement on the Lovia Archipelago and founded the Kingdom of Lovia together with the Founding Fathers. He was the first ruling monarch of Lovia from 1876 to 1887, and set the dynasty that still reigns over Lovia. King Arthur was married to Queen Anne of Lovia. They had a son, also named Arthur, who succeeded Arthur I after his death in 1887. Early life and move to America Arthur was born March 12, 1849, in a Dutch-speaking lower middle class family in Ghent, Belgium. His father, François, was a fruit retailer in the Ghent area. Arthur was the third child in the family. Ever since his move to America, Arthur Noble lost contact with his relatives in Europe. Arthur Nobel moved to San Francisco in 1872, seeking business opportunities as a journalist. He found a job as a political reporter in a San Francisco newspaper. In the same year, Nobel met Stephen Robinson, an African American Louisiana-born social activist. Discovery of Lovia Archipelago Looking through the many newspaper archives in San Francisco, Arthur discovered and old article - now lost - about an archipelago in the Pacific, not so far from the Californian coast but in an area of the ocean where cargoships never pass by. With limited resources, Noble found an investor and chartered a ship, the Francis II schooner. He and eleven other people, now known as the Founding Fathers, sailed to the Lovia Archipelago. They began building a small settlement, present-day Noble City. Other pioneers, most notably Sir John Lashawn and his family, moved to Asian Island, Sofasi, and build Lashawn Farm where the pioneers and founding fathers would often gather. After a few trips back to the States for extra supplies and manpower, the settlement was christened Noble City after the country's discoverer. The people crowned Arthur their king in 1876. By then, there were about two hundred inhabitants on the archipelago, almost all living in Noble City. Arthur married Anne Flores García in 1873. They had met in San Francisco in 1872 and she had come to Lovia on the second trip with the Francis II. Their son Arthur was born in 1875. Reign During his reign, the small country's population and economy grew steadily. King Arthur maintained strict control over import and export and was very peculiar when it came to laborers' rights. Although Lovia was hardly a democracy, having no parliament nor an official government, there were few complaints about Arthur's authority over his subjects. In 1876, King Arthur commissioned Stephen Robinson to establish the Noble City General Hospital. King Arthur died in 1887 from stomach cancer. His son Prince Arthur, who had lost his mother the year before and who was only eleven years old, succeeded him. Legacy Arthur Noble was known as a wise, intelligent and creative person. Reportedly, he read and wrote a lot. He expressed a vivid interest in the arts during the last years of his life. He was fluent in both Dutch and English. According to his intimate friends, he was eager to learn more languages, but never got to it. King Arthur had been a great admirer of classical music, especially the great Romantic composer Beethoven, when he still lived in Belgium and America. In the 1880s, one of his guards reportedly heard him complain about the impossibility to listen to classical music concerts in Lovia. From his writings, we learn that King Arthur was a staunch pacifist who abhorred the military. In the period 1878-1880, he wrote: "As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular." Like his successors, Arthur I was openly Atheistic. When he was crowned King of Lovia, many European monarchies expressed their concern over the lack of religious morality in Lovia. In a letter to an American Congressman, Stephen Robinson wrote the following about King Arthur: "He is a wise man. He's like a father, a mother and a brother to me." According to a contemporary source, Abigail Johnson said the following about him: "Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." In popular culture Arthur Noble is one of the main characters in Arthur Jefferson's 2010 film The Lovely. He is portrayed by King Dimitri I of Lovia. In Andrew Johnson's autobiographical books, several aspects of King Arthur's life are shown. Johnson portrays Noble in a slightly idealized manner, elaborately narrating his "natural instinct for what is good." Ancestry * Note: Lavender colored boxes: Ruling Monarch of Lovia * Note: Cornsilk colored boxes: civilian See also * Founding Fathers * Royal family of Lovia * The Lovely Category:Person Arthur I Category:Royal family Category:Atheist Category:Founding Father